Island of Cyprus Olive Bread

This excellent Mediterranean olive bread is found only in the Larnaca district of Cyprus, where it is baked in a beehive oven. Here I use either a Romertopf clay baker or a La Cloche stoneware domed baker as a substitute. The dough requires a great deal of olive oil, accounting for the belief that the women of Larnaca have beautiful hands from their kneading of it. You can try for beautiful hands by hand-kneading, or (as I do) knead the dough in a food processor.

This moist, chewy,